The Navy
needed every vessel they could get during
World War II and that included the USS Sea
Tiger, a broken-down pink submarine
said to be held together with "a
couple of half hitches and a Band-Aid."

The Sea Tiger with its
crew of officers and seamen were stationed
in the South Pacific and assigned to patrol
the region for downed airmen and sailors (or
perchance sink a Jap sub or shot down enemy
aircraft).

The submarine's unique pink
color was the result of having to set to sea
with only a primer coat on its hull after a
Japanese air attack destroyed the stockpile
of gray paint to be used for the final
exterior coat.

Duran,
Holden, and Sherman

The submarine's color seemed
appropriate because soon into the mission,
the USS Sea Tiger rescued a group of
Army nurses from a Pacific Island who became
unwilling guests onboard the roaming
submarine filled with 35 really lonely men.

The sub's initial command
staff included Lt. Cdr. Matthew Sherman; Lt.
Nick Holden (supply officer); and Army Major
Edna Howard, the head of the nurses.

The original command staff
was later replaced by Lt. Cmdr. Haller as
the new skipper, Lt. Mike Bender as supply
officer and Army Lt. Katherine O'Hara as the
leader of a bunch of new nurses.

Promotional Ad
for the Show

"Take five really lovely Army nurses.
Ship them out on a real navy sub with
35 really lonely men. And a Lt. that's
a real operator and you've got a
Captain with a real headache...It's
the only co-ed sub in the Navy. John
Astin speeds through World War II in
OPERATION PETTICOAT."

Capt.
Sherman:

I
think you should assemble the crew and
instruct them to ignore completely the
fact that our passengers are women.

Lt.
Holden:

I'll
do that immediately, Sir

Capt.
Sherman:

Not soon
enough, Mr. Holden

TRIVIA NOTE:
The TV series was based on the motion
picture Operation Petticoat (1959)
starring Cary Grant and Tony Curtis. Jamie
Lee Curtis, daughter of Tony Curtis was cast
as Army nurse Lt. Barbara Duran during the
1977-78 season. The second season was
called The New Operation Petticoat
due to major cast changes.